Sub-area plans – part of the county’s comprehensive plan that required by the state of Washington’s Growth Management Act (GMA) are in active various stages of development and review in four Kitsap County areas: Port Orchard/South Kitsap, Silverdale/Central Kitsap, Kingston, and Suquamish.

For Kingston and Suquamish, the current sub-area plan process consists of a review of the sub-area plans developed for these urban growth areas (UGAs) in 2003 and 1999, respectively. Citizens advisory committees are meeting for each area to review the plans that are in place and assess if changes need to be made based on actual growth in each area, as well as current county population density and growth decisions. This review process should be completed by the end of the year.

The Silverdale/Central Kitsap area is in the beginning stages of developing its integrated sub-area and watershed plan. The process began in late 2004 and will most likely continue through 2007 or 2008, according to Cindy Baker, director of Kitsap County’s Department of Community Development. The final plan will determine where and how to accommodate the 20-year forecasted population growth for the area, roughly 8,059 people, and provide specific policy guidance for the Silverdale Urban Growth Area.

A citizens advisory committee of 39 members is working with department of community development staff, county commissioners, and others to evaluate factors such as existing transportation, land use, natural environment, land capacity, and economic development and capital facilities. The committee, which has just completed the educational/informational stage of the process, will then develop land use alternatives and recommend a preferred alternative to the Kitsap County Planning Commission and the Board of County Commissioners.

The planning commission will make a recommendation on the plan to the board, as well. The planning commission recommendation can be the same as the citizen advisory committee or a hybrid of the alternatives. Both the committee and planning commission recommendations are then forwarded to the board for consideration and adoption. The board can adopt one of the recommendations or a hybrid of the alternatives.

The next step for Silverdale at this stage will be to identify a study-area boundary — an envelope boundary that identifies areas for analysis and potential areas for future growth and land uses changes — for the planning process.

The Port Orchard/South Kitsap sub-area is nearing the end of its planning process and should be completed by the end of this year. Port Orchard’s citizen advisory committee met with much frustration during its planning process.

“The results that came out were not what they thought we would be,” said DCD’s Baker “It was just a disappointment.”

When the planning process started for this UGA it appeared that the potential areas for expansion were larger than they turned out to be.

“There’s been frustration that the growth people wanted might not happen,” said Baker. She emphasized, however, that it is mandated to look at the plan again in five years, and that growth in that area will be monitored over that time. If growth is faster than what was predicted, based on a 76/24 formula (76 percent of the population in urban areas, 24 percent in rural), than South Kitsap’s plan may need to change.

County Commissioner Jan Angel shared the frustrations of South Kitsap residents.

“I hear a lot of frustrations from our citizens,” said Angel. She cited the “lack of flexibility in the Growth Management Act” as a major factor in that frustration. The GMA, she said, is “a very rigid structure that controls most all factors on the extent you can grow and how.”.